the aftermath

in the wake of the kaiju attack, everyone was in mourning. all the people of the world were terrified and worried, but those at the ppdc were feeling the worst. they had lost so, so many lives. the days spent at funerals for the dead were shortened to nothing because the world needed them. the cadets who had lost so much were out at the forefront, along with jake and nate, who had become the unspoken leaders of the rebuilding process, or at least jake had become the face on the posters.

all the jaegers had been destroyed, the drones demolished, and another city had been leveled. the ppdc would have to rebuild themselves from nothing, and the rest of the world along with them. the damage was unimaginable. it took weeks to remove all the debris, but it would take years to undo the damage that had been exacted to the people.

in jake's opinion, it had taken far too long to do all of this. he had been whisked away from nate and the cadets to sign forms and speak to the public, and he didn't even know if nate was actually alright. he worried about amara and the cadets and how they were holding up. jake was just worn out and upset. he had been given no time to grieve for mako or to recuperate from the battle.

when he finally returned to the base, he couldn't decide whether he wanted to see the others or run straight to his bed and lie there for years. thankfully, the choice was made for him as amara and the cadets were waiting for him at the platform when his helicopter touched down. when he stepped out, amara ran into his arms with a laugh. he swept her into a quick hug.

"i missed you," she said quietly before pulling away into the other cadets who were smiling jovially, much happier than they had been the last time jake had seen them.

"how are you all doing?" he asked them.

they shrugged and smiled, but jake could see the weight of suresh's death on them. they were teenagers who thought they were invincible, and that idea had been stolen from them far too young. they had been forced into adulthood far earlier than anyone else had, even nate. jake fully understood that this was his fault, that suresh's death was his fault, that the pain these kids faced was his fault.

he knew that.

his mind quickly went back to nate as they all walked back into the base. the last that he'd seen of him was the medic's whisking nate away to the infirmiry after getting ahold of newt. jake has quickly been taken to far off coastlines and countries and wasn't given a second to call back and check on nate.

as the cadets headed baxk towards their room, he nudged amara and asked "any idea where nate might be?"

she smirked as she turned to him. "check the new jaeger garage," she said and pointed as she bounded after the others, bumping into vik and laughing.

jake smiled at seeing amara happy. after everything she'd been through because of jake, she deserved it.

he turned and headed the other direction. he still had his bag on his shoulder as he began to jog. he was excited to see nate, even if he hated his guys for what happened when they were teenagers. jake shook his head slightly to try and rid those awful thoughts from his mind.

when he finally reached the new jaeger station, he was in awe. they had already began building new jaegers from the old ones, and he saw pieces of gypsy avenger on a new jaeger. someone punched him in the shoulder, and at first he thought it was nate, but it was jules.

"hey," she smiled and gave him a quick hug. "how're you holding up, hot stuff," she laughed.

jake smiled. he might've had a crush on jules when they first met,  but after a few months by her, they were quick to be just friends. besides, she and nate were probably banging by this point.